Adventure of Realisation
by Song of a Nightingale
Summary: Rangiku is in love with her Captain, problem is she just doesn't know it yet. But will a mission gone wrong leaving Toshiro badly hurt help her open her eyes? or will she remain dormant to her feelings?


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Tite Kubo owns the names of places, characters etc. in this story. No copyright intended.**

It's funny how it takes an adventure of pain and tears for someone to realise the simplest of things. Even when all those around them had figured it out long ago.

For Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto of Squad 10, it took her such an adventure for her to realise her true feelings.

This adventure began when her Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of squad 10, child prodigy and genius, had left for a captains meeting one morning.

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to get out of doing paperwork, Rangiku grabbed her sake bottle, sat herself down at her desk and began to drink.

And she was still there when Captain Hitsugaya returned form the captains meeting.

One he had entered his office he glanced at his lieutenant who was gazing out of the window, occasionally sipping at her sake every now and then.

At the sound of the door sliding shut Rangiku turned and smiled brightly at the sight of her captain.

"Captain!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Rangiku" Came his reply.

"How was the meeting?" she asked.

"The usual" Toshiro said as he sat down at his desk.

Rangiku sat her head in her hands. "Any missions?"

"Actually yes" he said, grabbing a piece of paperwork from his desk. "You and I must investigate about recent sightings of a large number of hollows and eliminate them all."

"Sounds fun" Rangiku said. Still having her head in her hands, Rangiku watched Toshiro filling out paperwork, a small smile spreading across her face.

Toshiro glanced at Rangiku and frowned.

"Rangiku" he called

"Yes captain" she said, slightly dreamily.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Toshiro asked slightly confused.

"Huh? I was staring at you?" Rangiku sat up straight.

Toshiro sighed in annoyance. "Yes and you were smiling at me".

"Oh" she said. A small blush settling over her cheeks. "I was?"

Toshiro rolled his eyes and went back to his paperwork. Rangiku watched him for a few more seconds before turning her attention to her sake.

"I would advise you to not drink anymore sake Rangiku" Toshiro said suddenly. "I want you sober for the mission tonight".

Rangiku pouted. "Aw captain, do I have to?" she whined.

"Yes Rangiku" he sighed.

Rangiku knew there was no point in arguing with him. "Alright captain if you insist" she said putting the sake in a draw under her desk. I'll have some after the mission then she thought happily to herself.

Little did Rangiku know, that she would not be returning to the office for a long time.

Rangiku was on her way to meet her captain for their mission when she ran into Ikkaku and Hisagi.

"Hey Rangiku come drink with us!" Ikkaku spluttered.

"Yeah" agreed Hisagi. "It'll be fun" he said spreading his arms wide as though he wanted a hug.

"Sorry, not tonight boys" Rangiku said with a smile. "I'm going on a mission with my captain."

"Ooohhh" they chorused.

"Goin' on a date with Hitsugaya huh?" Ikkaku tried to raise an eyebrow but failed seeing as he was drunk.

"No!" cried Rangiku. "Like I said, we're going on a mission"

Ikkaku snorted. "Yeah right. You're totally in love with him"

"Am not!" Rangiku felt her cheeks heat up.

"You so are" said Hisagi. "You talk about him every time we go out drinking."

"I do not!" flashed Rangiku.

"Name one time when you haven't talked about him" Ikkaku challenged.

Rangiku was silent. She honestly couldn't even think back to when she was out drinking with Ikkaku and Hisagi, much less the conversations they had had. But still even when she was sober she still did talk about him. Rangiku bit her lip.

"See you can't" said Ikkaku triumphantly.

"Yeah!" Hisagi said, putting his arm around Ikkaku's neck as he leaned on him.

"Pft. Whatever" Rangiku said. Turning on her heel and walking down the corridor she heard Hisagi and Ikkaku laughing.

They started to sing "Rangiku and Toshiro sitting in a tree, K I S S-" Rangiku turned around to glare at them, but saw they had already linked arms and was skipping down the corridor, singing as loud as they could.

Rangiku turned back around and sighed. Her captain was going to kill her.

She met her captain outside the division's barracks. Toshiro crossed his arms and glared at Rangiku when he saw her.

"I'm sorry captain" Rangiku said, before Toshiro could say anything. "I got…distracted"

Toshiro sighed. "Come on" he said as the flash stepped through the Seireitei together.

They arrived at the edge of a forest outside the soul society. Strange noises and howling could be heard from deep within the forest.

As they plunged deeper into the forest, Rangiku felt as though they were being watched. "Captain…" she began.

"Keep your guard up Rangiku" Toshiro warned her.

"Yes sir"

Hours passed and as the sun went down, it was soon pitch black. The occasional Hollow would appear, but not the type they were looking for. Captain Hitsugaya sheathed his sword as a hollow he had just defeated disappeared in front of him.

"Let's head back Rangiku" he said.

"Yes captain" Rangiku agreed.

As they turned around the sound of rustling and twigs snapping was heard. Immediately Toshiro had his sword in his hand and was glaring in the dark unknown, the direction where the sound had come from.

Rangiku slowly pulled out her sword, took a battle stance and waited.

The minutes ticked by but nothing stirred and not a sound was made. The full moon passed behind a cloud making it almost impossible to see. If something was out there, it would most likely attack now. But still no movement was made. When the moon reappeared in the sky, silver light flooded down them, banishing all shadows.

They peered into the night but saw nothing. Slowly Toshiro relaxed and Rangiku sheathed her sword. They turned around and continued walking down the path that led them back into the open air of the soul society. Rangiku glanced at her captain and caught her breath. With the full moon shining down on them the beams of silver light seemed to make Toshiro's hair glow as Rangiku stared at awe at him.

He looks so beautiful in the moonlight thought Rangiku.

Wait, what? Rangiku stopped suddenly and shook her head. What was she thinking! Yes her captain was handsome, anyone could see that. But she, his lieutenant, should not be thinking such things! Her thoughts drifted back to what Ikkaku and Hisagi had said earlier. Was she really in love with him? No, of course she wasn't. But then again….

"Rangiku?"

The sound of her captain's voice brought Rangiku back into reality. "Yes captain?" she said after she had regained her senses.

"Are you alright? Why are you just standing there?" he questioned.

Rangiku blinked. "Oh I, err…nothing captain. Just thinking" she said with a smile.

Toshiro frowned, slightly confused but turned around and continued down the path anyway. "You can think in the office" he said and muttered something about thinking and doing her paperwork.

Rangiku smiled and happily followed her captain. They had been walking in silence for a while until Rangiku sighed heavily. "Captain, are we there yet? My feet are killing me!"

"You sound just like a child Rangiku" Toshiro replied.

Rangiku opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, her captain suddenly cried out in pain and fell to his knees.

"Captain!" screamed Rangiku and ran to his side.

She knelt down beside him but froze when she saw a large claw mark in his stomach. She couldn't tell how deep it was from her position, but blood was gushing from the wound tremendously fast.

Rangiku looked all around her but nothing could be seen that could have caused her captain to have an injury like that.

"Captain, are you alright?" she asked while helping him stand.

"Fine" he gasped. He clutched his wound with his hand as blood flowed through his fingers.

"You are not fine," Rangiku protested. "We need to get you to the-"

But before Rangiku could finish she felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she was suddenly sent flying through the air.

"Rangiku!"

Rangiku heard her captain yell her name as she landed to the hard ground, rolling a few times. She sat up dizzily and examined her wound. She had three marks cutting into her skin, but it looked like someone had punctured her with something and then had pulled it free through her skin.

She struggled to her feet and drew her sword; ready to fight whatever it was that had hit her.

She saw dust swirly around the path all over the place as though something invisible was running wild. Wait a minute, invisible!

This type of hollow must be invisible. Rangiku Thought worriedly.

She watched as her captain swung his sword and a hollow appeared in front on him with a cut mark on its left side. It wasn't very big, about the size of a fairly large dog. But it had a long tail with sharp looking spikes on the end, blazing red eyes and teeth that would make a piranha's look like tooth picks.

"Rangiku, watch for any more of them while I deal with this one" her captain commanded.

"Yes sir." Rangiku concentrated on her surroundings. She knew more would show and to make things worse the damn creatures were invisible! But she couldn't help glancing over at her captain. She had heard the pain in his voice when he had spoken to her and knew his wound must be causing him a lot more pain than he was letting on.

Hearing a twig snap she whirled around to face the direction it came from. And not a moment too soon either.

A hollow lunged at her from behind a bush, roaring loud. Thankfully it was fully visible as Rangiku slashed it in mid-air. Just as she was turning around, another hollow pounced at her, but this time it knocked her to the ground. Rangiku stared at the hollow, realising it was the one her captain had been fighting.

She had no time to think when the hollow swung its tail on the side of Rangiku's head, blood fell into her eyes and her vision blurred. The hollow was now in front of her as it crouched to the ground, ready to pounce. But just as its feet left the ground she heard her captain's voice;

"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!"

An ice dragon crashed into the beast, turning it to ice than smashing it against the ground.

Rangiku turned her head just in time to see her captain collapse to the ground.

"Captain!" she yelled as she struggled to rise. She had only taken a few steps when she had fallen to the ground again. She tried to reach her captain but her body felt so weak. And the last thing she saw before the darkness could take over her was her captain lying still as death in a pool of blood.

Rangiku could feel rays of the sun's warmth across her face. She turned her face to the side and moaned. Since when did turning her head hurt so much? She slowly opened her eyes and everything came to vision.

She saw Captain Unohana standing beside her bed giving her a warm smile.

"Ah, lieutenant Mastumoto it is good to see you awake" she said softly.

Rangiku swallowed before speaking. "How long have I been out?" she asked.

"About twenty four hours."

Rangiku nodded. Than her eyes went wide as she remembered last night. She sat up right in her bed but her head started to throb. She groaned once more and cradled her head in her hands.

"Careful," said Unohana. "You have not fully healed Rangiku."

Ignoring her words Rangiku turned to face her. "Where is my captain?" she asked worriedly. "Is he alright?"

Unohana smiled sadly at Rangiku. Sometimes she cared more about her captain than her own health.

"Captain Unohana?"

"It took us a while but we finally manage to stop the bleeding of his wounds. Unfortunately he has yet to wake up."

"How long until you think he will wake up?" Rangiku asked with worry.

Unohana got a pained look on her face. "We are not sure yet."

Rangiku's eyes widened at this news. They were not sure if her Captain would wake up? What if he never woke up? What if he was going to…..die?

She was brought out of her worries as she felt Captain Unohana's hand on her shoulder.

"Try not to worry Rangiku. Captain Hitsugaya has the power of youth on his side; he will not give up that easily. But he may wake up sooner if you were to talk to him. He might hear you."

Rangiku nodded and followed her out of the room and into a private chamber were her captain was lying in a soft bed. His eyes were shut and his chest was slowly rising than falling. To anyone it would appear that he was simply asleep, but it was much more than that.

Rangiku sat down next the bed as Unohana left the room and silently closed the door behind her. She took her captain's hand in hers and held it tight. His hand was so soft and his skin was so smooth. But terribly cold.

Tears threatened to fall as she stared at his face. It looked so peaceful and beautiful.

"Please wake up captain," Rangiku murmured quietly. "I need you. And I need to tell you something important, that…"

And finally Rangiku had figured it out. She finally realised that after all these years she had fallen for her captain.

"…I love you."

Rangiku put her forehead against Toshiro's and closed her eyes. "Now that I think about it," she whispered quietly. "I may have been in love with you for years and I didn't even realise it. Maybe ever since you became my captain, almost 40 years."

Rangiku kept her eyes closed and wished for her captain to wake so she could tell him how she really felt about him. How she has always felt about him.

And maybe, just maybe someone up there was watching. Maybe someone had granted her wish, because it wasn't long before Toshiro let out a long sigh and Rangiku felt his cold breathe on her neck.

With her eyes flying open Rangiku leaned back and watched her Captain slowly open his eyes.

"Rangiku?" Toshiro asked sleepily.

"Oh captain" she said with a sigh of relief as she watched her captain sit up.

Now that he was sitting up, Rangiku took the opportunity and flung her arms around him.

Toshiro was startled at first and surprised when Rangiku hugged him. But it wasn't because she was hugging him; oh no she did that plenty of times. It surprised him that this hug was more gentle and warm. Like someone greeting an old friend.

Soon he got over his surprise and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her back.

Rangiku sighed in happiness and closed her eyes once more, saving the moment. She finally pulled apart from him but kept her arms around his neck just he kept his around her waist.

With their faces just centimetres apart, Rangiku took this time to finally tell her captain. Just like she said she would. "I'm so glad you woke up captain, and…I have something important to tell you."

"What is it?" he asked softly.

She breathed in. _'here I go.' _She thought.

Rangiku leaned in and broke those few centimetres that separated them and pressed her lips to his.

Toshiro's eyes widened when Rangiku kissed him. Why would she do that? Why would she kiss him? Why..? But toshiro banished those thought from his mind as he kissed Rangiku back and pulled her closer to him.

Rangiku's heart started to beat faster when she felt her captain return her kiss and moaned into his lips as he pulled her closer. Toshiro's lips were cool and so deliciously sweet. She moved one hand from his neck and buried it in his soft white hair as she deepened the kiss. Toshiro moaned softly and slowly leaned back until they were both lying in the bed. Rangiku licked Toshiro's bottom lip and he let her tongue inside his mouth to taste more of him. Rangiku just couldn't get enough of her Captain as her tongue explored every inch of his mouth and she moaned louder. Toshiro responded by tightening his grip around her waist as his hands climb her back.

With their lips moving against each other's their kiss soon turned out into a passionate and heated make out. But Rangiku just mainly concentrated on the cool lips on hers and smiled into the kiss. She had finally told her Captain how she felt about him, and he had, in a way, told her as well. Even though she actually hadn't said it to him, sometimes actions speak louder than words.


End file.
